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The Early Word: Palin’s Homecoming

For the first time since being named the Republican vice presidential candidate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is going home. After she and Senator John McCain headline an event this morning in Fairfax, Va., she’ll catch a flight to Alaska and attend a welcome rally in Fairbanks upon arrival.

But the trip will also be a test for Ms. Palin, who has encountered an onslaught of both praise and criticism during her short time on the national campaign trail. While there, she will sit-down for her first major news interview since joining the Republican ticket with ABC’s Charlie Gibson.

Media outlets on the left – from Talking Points Memo to Huffington Post – are loaded with hard-hitting stories about Palin. McCain often seems like he’s playing second fiddle.
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The Obama campaign is calculating that it must reckon with Palin and the big public boost she has provided McCain in the past week. When Palin was first named, the Obama staff attacked, then he pulled back. Now, reflecting the threat posed by Palin, Obama is taking the unusual route of attacking the opposition’s No. 2, a job that would more typically be left to Biden, who focused more on McCain and President Bush.

Recently, Ms. Palin has been taking heat for billing Alaska taxpayers a per diem for nights that she spent working from home rather than in the State Capitol, which was first examined in The Washington Post yesterday. The Times’s Michael Luo and Leslie Wayne report that aides to the governor are defending the practice while Democrats continue to use it to “challenge the image of fiscal discipline” that she’s been trying to convey.

Nevertheless, the Washington Post’s Anne E. Kornblut writes about one of Gov. Palin’s biggest strengths – her appeal among women – in particular, “conservative women … with the addition of some independents and even Democrats — women who are “fed up with a man’s world,’ ”: “Several senior officials in both parties said they think Palin’s attraction is the result, in part, of a generally negative mood among some female voters this year, first, as Clinton faced a “boys’ club” mentality in the Democratic primaries and then as Palin faced intense questioning, much of it highly personal, after McCain named her as his running mate.”

And according to the Los Angeles Times’s Peter Wallsten and Janet Hook, “The emergence of Sarah Palin as a political force in the presidential race has left many top Democrats fretting that, just two weeks after their convention ended on an emotional high, Barack Obama’s campaign has suddenly lost its stride.”
State of the Race The lengthy primary contest and an increase in the number of states that allow early voting “is forcing both campaigns to recalibrate the pace of television advertisements, accelerate voter turnout operations and tailor the candidates’ traveling schedules to accommodate states where voting is imminent,” reports The Times’s Adam Nagourney.

In the rapid-fire world of campaign messaging, the Washington Post’s Jonathan Weisman notes how “untrue accusations and rumors have started to swirl at a pace so quick that they become regarded as fact before they can be disproved.”

Time Magazine’s Jay Newton-Small observes that the “surge in Republican enthusiasm and John McCain’s poll numbers generated by the emergence of Sarah Palin as a GOP superstar” has Democrats “hitting the panic button”:

The Obama campaign, however, isn’t sounding any alarms, and it’s not just because it believes the post-convention glow will disappear soon enough and voters will get back to focusing on issues more than personality. Much of its confidence stems from a tactical advantage on the ground it showcased to great effect in the primary battle with Hillary Clinton, one which it believes could be the deciding factor in the general election as well.

And as the federal government moves in to bail out the mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, The Times’s Jackie Calmes notes that both candidates “have ties to the fallen giants that will complicate the next president’s job of reshaping the mortgage finance companies that have been essential to the economy.”

Entertainer-turned-candidate Al Franken easily won the nomination of Minnesota Democrats to challenge Republican Sen. Norm Coleman ; Delaware Democrats narrowly decided their primary for the state’s open governor’s seat in favor of state Treasurer Jack Markell, who will run on a party ticket topped by six-term Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. as he runs simultaneously for vice president and for Senate re-election; and voters in New York and New Hampshire decided the matchups for some of the year’s most competitive U.S. House races.

I loved the ‘Truth Squad’ defense against online Palin rumors. They say indignantly. “Palin never banned books at the Wasilla Library”. Then when pressed, they admit that Palin asked the Librarian to remove books that offended Palin. They admit that the Librarian refused and that Palin then fired the Librarian. Well Bubba, without splitting hairs that sounds prety darn close to book banning to me.
PS: Palin also fired the Wasilla Police Cheif just because they did not click. Oooo Barracuda.

The faux outrage because Obama called the Palin/McCain ticket a “pig” is backfiring. The GOP, which is stumbling around attempting to play at identity politics, will miss with this one. Obama wasn’t referring the Palin specifically, as will be clear to anyone who watches it.

Americans reject the politics of identity, but more importantly, this ham-handed attempted to stir up the gender pot calls into question Palin’s readiness to lead.

For one thing, if you can’t take stand the heat, get into the kitchen. If she’s going to go toe-to-toe with Putin and Ahmadinejad, she can’t cry foul because someone said something “offensive.” Or gave her a “stern look.“

For another thing, if Palin wants to be treated as a man, then she should campaign as a man would. When you bring your children out with you and use them as campaign props you should expect questions about them and how you are parenting. A man would never walk around with the four month-old in his arms to create a tough dad photo op. That’s why he doesn’t get those questions.

The campaign of “new style politics” and “positive change” is losing its mind, and are totally flummoxed. They are throwing the kitchen sink at Sarah Palin, and it’s not working. Obama’s blurting out stuff in frustration about lipstick and “old fish.” It’s a riot.

I wonder if Ms. Palin is charging per diem to the State of Alaska while on the campaign trail. Also, we have to wonder what did happen to the earmark that was not used for the “Bridge to Nowhere”. Enquiring minds want to know.

The Obama needs to address the “pig” comments head on. trash McCain for overreacting and then keep hammering them until McCain-Palin is back on defense. They have to be on defense for Obama to have a shot.

Not to point out the obvioue, the per diem that Governor Palin receive for staying at home would most likely to be considered taxable income that is reportable on her W-2 given that she actually spen a great majority of her time living and working out of the office close to her home. The same argument would apply to a good portion of the reimbursement of expenses she incurr for bringing her children and her family with her on her business trips. .

According to the NYT article cited in this post, pro Paliner’s are defending it in two ways:

1) The former Governor of Alaska was worse;
2) The per diem was logical and was taken openly and transparently.

Their first reason lead one to conclude that at best, Palin is less worse than Murkowski. This is like saying that killing 10 people is less worse than killing 15.

As to the logic and transparency, that is exactly the issue. Can’t she see that what she did was wrong? Doesn’t it bother her conscience that she is taking money from the taxpayers of Alaska just because she commutes to work from home – a practice that many Americans do and pay for out of their own pockets? Perhaps, if Palin were not already making $125,000/year I would have more synpathy.

Palin is not a breath of fresh political air. To paraphrase a part of her recycled acceptance speech:

I might add that in America, we don’t quite know what to make of a candidate who talks about changing government to work for the people when they are listening and watching, and then, for personal per diem reimbursement, takes money out of hardworking taxpayers when tthey aren’t listening or watching

I tend to prefer candidates who don’t behave one way in Juneau and another way on the campaign trail.

As the novelty wears off, more and more people are shocked and disappointed when they learn about the real Sarah Palin.

It was no coincidence that the the most extreme of the extreme right-wing was ecstatic over her as a choice. Few extremists like her have ever made it that far in Presidential Politics. She is much like Bush, only worse.

If McCain/Palin win this election, the US, all of the countries in the entire world, and the planet itself will be in big, big trouble.

Why do all these reporters keep on attacking Palin with questions? Is it because she’s a woman? Why do they keep on forcing her to say ridiculous, misinformed nonsense? No one in America knows what a VP does! I’m not even sure what the V.P. stand for. “Very Political?” “Vaunted Person?” “Vacuous Pandering?” “Vroom! Pow!”

We just don’t know.

The McCain-Bush people have only one strategy. Lie and preen and hope to God that this election doesn’t become about the issues. And, in an America that is on the brink economically due to 8 years of a failed Presidency, 4 more years of McCain-Bush-Palin means 4 more years of declining quality of life for all put 5 % of Americans!

When will they learn that these relentless attacks are only going to make Palin supporters view her more as a victim and bond to her stronger.

Unless there is a large smoking gun out there, and I doubt there is, all this noise and attacking will make the “average American” feel that the media and Obama are being mean spirited and it will turn them off even more.

Obama worked hard to be seen as an “average Joe” — and he chose Biden because he was an “average Joe” — America has decided that the only “average Joe” in this election is actually “average Josephine” and many view these attacks as attacks on themselves — this will be self defeating unless, as I said, someone uncovers a very large smoking gun.

Be careful, the public is already turning on Obama and his attacks, they have a very short tolerance for this and it will bite him in the end unless he can show that it was justified.

“The governor has cut back on pork-barrel project requests, but in her two years in office, Alaska has requested nearly $750 million in special federal spending, by far the largest per-capita request in the nation. And as mayor of Wasilla, Palin hired a lobbyist and traveled to Washington annually to support earmarks for the town totaling $27 million.”

By far the largest per-capita requests for special federal funding in the entire nation! $27 million in earmarks for a town of 5,000 people!

According to Wasilla residents, she took a town with no debt and put it more than $20 million dollars in debt.

Lying, spend-crazy. theocratic right-wing extremist that pretends to be a reformer…. sound familiar? Sarah Palin really is like George Bush.

Pangaea–
Palin has almost a 90% approval rating in Alaska. Stop talking down to people–there must be a reason for that she is so popular. The approval is probably really 100% because, as you know, it is impossible to please everybody all the time.

The talking points from the left are extreme. I found Mr. Obama’s comments implying that white middle class mothers are pigs to be very offensive. Additionally, Mr. Biden’s slur against the disabled was bizarre. You don’t ask someone in a wheel chair to stand up. Disgraceful.

Where the heck did you get that link you troll and why do you believe it. It is an obvious fabrication — the first clue is that the “author” did not post it — it was a “friend of a friend”. Secondly, although “she” claims to have gathered all the information about finances during the time that Palin was running for Govenor — 3 years ago — all of her references are for this year!! Also, FactCheck.org has already refuted the claim about Palin asking the librarian to remove specific books which throws the whole thing into question.

Please perform some due diligence before posting or state that you are a troll.

Did you notice that Senator McCain looks like the old Charlie Chaplin. Watch him closely next time. Controversies and poor judgment follow both of them.

Now I also think of a pittbull or a pig with lipstick when I see Governor Palin. Well, too bad!

Silent Comic and Lipstick are defending the records of the past eight years of Republicans-Bush-McCain of senseless war and ‘victory’, sinking value of the Bush dollar, enormous increase of unpaid debt. Where is their patriotism? They have ruined the country and they help Iran, Russia and China to oppose and overpower us. This is worse than a mistake to me. It is defeatism at best. Time for change.

Since when being a Hockey mom, former beauty queen, mother of five, advocate for creationism and a magnet for controversies were the major criteria for running for the second highest office in this country? That is all I know about this woman.
she obviously has no clue about the Economy, Foreign policy let alone locate and name several heads of major governments of the free world? ( only took one trip abroad- don’t speak any foreign language-)
let be honest how many American can identify with Alaska-The closest thing to Russia in her own words.
This woman is wrong for the job and Mccain himself has ruined his chance and soiled his judgement by picking her. How Maverick is this choice? Not so much.

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